The Miami Millionaire (27 page)

Jake winced inside, Victoria didn’t sound like she had even the tiniest bit of regret or sadness that they were over, and what they had was now at an end.  Maybe he wasn’t so wrong about her after all, but his gut instinct told him she hadn’t plotted to steal the file, that much he was sure of – if she had wanted to do that then she would have taken the file herself and just blamed it on Mark after he left the office, there was no need for Mark to take the file and pass it over to her later.  No, he didn’t think Victoria did this, but he still didn’t know what to think of her and Mark, or how much of what she and he had together was real - because he thought it had been something totally amazing.

Jake’s intercom buzzed - the people for his ten thirty meeting were on their way up to the board room. 

He reached for the intercom, “Hold them off for a few minutes will you Andrea.  Give them some coffee or iced tea and some small talk.”  Then he turned back to Victoria.  “My guests are here so I need to go, but one last thing Victoria.  Why didn’t you tell me what was going on?  If all this is true then why didn’t you just come to me and tell me Mark had stolen the file, and I could have dealt with it?”

“How could I?  It was my fault he managed to get his hands on my file in the first place, and the best way of getting the file back without anything leaking out was for me to deal with it myself.  I hoped if I managed to get the file back then no one would know.  You wouldn’t have known.  If you brought the police in then Mark might have leaked what was in the file and the details of your new products would have been out, and I know how much money that could have cost your company.  Besides, I didn’t know if you would believe me anyway, and by your reaction yesterday I think I was right.”

“That’s hardly fair, I find you holding one of my most confidential files coming out of a hotel room with your ex-fiancé after cancelling dinner with me for him.  What was I supposed to think?”

“More of me than that!”  Victoria walked to the door, there wasn’t much more for her here, “If you don’t want me to work on your account any more then I understand that, but please don’t take your account away from Churchill, Turnbull & French.  I have set up some good campaigns for you in London, and they are all ready and waiting for you to give the okay to when you are ready to launch here in the USA.  I know I screwed up, but please don’t hold it against the rest of the marketing team in London.  I can hand everything over to Gina and it will work like clockwork.”

Victoria hoped Jake could see the sense in not pulling his account away from them now at such late stage, at least that way she had kept her side of the bargain with Ben Churchill and would at least keep her job with them even if she didn’t get to work on CT Holdings’ account.

Jake picked up the confidentiality agreements from his desk, shuffled them in his hands giving himself another moment to think, and put them in his drawer, “It’s too late to take this campaign to anyone else, we launch in just over a week and I don’t want any mistakes.”

“There won’t be, I promise you.  Gina is excellent at her job.”

“No.  You stay on this account and make it all happen as if this never did.”  Jake said without looking Victoria in the eye.

Victoria nodded surprised, she thought the last thing Jake would want was her working on his account, but then again it made good business sense since he didn’t know Gina.  She sighed with relief – despite feeling like her insides had been ripped apart then chewed around, and having no money or home, now at least she still had her job.

“I think there’s nothing more for us to say, and you can liaise with Andrea in the future for our campaigns.”  Jake said as he stood up.

Jake’s words stung like a thousand bees.  So she was being dismissed and now he was telling her she was never going to see or hear from him again!  She wanted to scream at him!  Ask him how he could dismiss what they had so easily?  She knew it had obviously meant less to Jake than her, but the way they made love and the times they spent together just talking and being close together must had meant something because she felt that connection between them, and she thought he had too.

Victoria walked to the door and paused, “By the way Jake, how did you know I was at the Four Seasons hotel last night?”  Victoria asked making Jake look back at her.

A knock came at Jake’s door and Bruno opened it, “You asked to see me Mr Cumberland.”

“Yes, wait outside please Bruno.” He nodded and stepped back outside closing the door behind him leaving Victoria and Jake alone in the office once again.

“I had Mark followed when he left this office.  Something didn’t feel right about why he was here so I asked Bruno to keep him under surveillance.  Bruno phoned me last night when you were at the hotel and sent me some photographs.”

“Fair enough I suppose, but then you will also know that what I told you is true.  And on the subject of photographs telling the truth Jake, I guess we both got things wrong about each other didn’t we?”  Victoria said as she opened the door and walked out.

Jake stood still behind his desk and looked at the closed door as he tried to ignore the emptiness which consumed him - what did Victoria mean by that?  Then he heard his intercom buzz again, it was Andrea reminding him his guests were waiting and getting impatient.

“Fine, I am on my way.”  Jake said as he walked out of his office.  He turned to Bruno who was sitting on one of the chairs outside his office door and nodded for Bruno to follow him “Bruno.”

“Yes Mr Cumberland.”  He said keeping in pace with his boss as Jake walked to the lift.

“I want hard copies of those photographs and a full report on my desk by lunchtime.”

“Yes sir.”  Bruno said thinking he would make sure all the relevant information was going to be included within that report.

Victoria walked into her office and put her bag down on her desk.  She sat down in her chair and looked at her desk drawer.  So much had happened in less than twenty four hours and she needed a few minutes to take it all in.  Yesterday morning she was looking forward to dinner with what she had thought was the man of her dreams – her incredibly sexy amazing lover and one of the nicest men she had ever met.  And now this morning none of that existed, even if it ever had! 

Victoria opened up her laptop and typed in ‘American Airlines’.  There was nothing that needed to be done here which couldn’t be done in London now, and it was time to go home.  She scanned the available flights and saw there were still a few seats available in business class on the flight leaving Miami for London that afternoon.  She wondered if she could make it, she had just under five hours until she needed to be at Miami International Airport.  Then she looked around her and realised that nothing was keeping her here anymore.  Picking up the few files Victoria would need she slipped them inside her bag and picked up her laptop.  Hastily she scribbled a note to Andrea leaving her office contact number in London and put it into an envelope and headed downstairs.

As Victoria stepped out of the lift, instead of walking out to the reception lobby, she walked along a small corridor and knocked on the door marked ‘Security’.  A tall man in a dark suit and an earpiece opened the door.

“Can I speak to Bruno please.”  Victoria said as she looked up at the tall guy wondering if he had played basketball in his younger days.

“Of course Miss Pembrose.”  He said stepping aside allowing Bruno to come to the door.

“What can I do for you Miss Pembrose?”  Bruno said feeling uneasy since he was typing up a report which involved Victoria at that very moment.

“Nothing too much, don’t worry.  Firstly call me Victoria please.”

Bruno nodded.

“I am flying back to London this afternoon and I would feel more comfortable if you check the paperwork I am leaving this office with and make a note of it in your log please.”

“That is not something we usually do.  Are you sure you want me to do this?”  Bruno said thinking this obviously had something to do with the file he photographed Victoria with last night.

“It would make me feel more comfortable if you did log what paperwork I am leaving this building with.  Please.”  She said.

“Of course, come into our meeting room here.”  Bruno said as he led the way to the room opposite and opened the door.

Victoria walked into the room and put her bag down on the desk.   She took the files out of her bag and then emptied her bag upside down letting the contents clutter onto the desk.

Bruno looked at her puzzled.

“It is okay Bruno, I am assuming that anything I say to you in this office is confidential and for only yours and Jake’s ears?”

“That is correct.”

“Good.  The man you followed yesterday was my ex-fiancé.  He came here to have me sign some personal papers but as you probably know he stole a file which Jake thought I took.  I can assure you that I did not take the file from here and I was not involved in stealing the file.  However, as I am now leaving and flying back to London I wouldn’t want there to be anymore misunderstandings and I would feel more comfortable if you logged everything that I am leaving this office with.  Also I have locked my office door and here is the key,” Victoria handed a key to Bruno along with the envelope, “and please can you give this to Andrea, it is contact details for my office in London.”

Bruno took the key and envelope, and then set about logging the details of the paperwork and personal items from Victoria’s bag.

Jake closed his office door and looked at the file Bruno had given him earlier in the afternoon now sitting on his desk.  Andrea had already gone home and his office was silent.  He hadn’t ventured further than the boardroom and his office all day, he even had Andrea bring his lunch in just so he didn’t bump into Victoria in a corridor.  He still didn’t know whether to believe what Victoria said this morning or not.  She could have been telling the truth, but then again there were two other scenarios which swam around in his head.  He walked over to his drinks cabinet and poured himself a measure of whisky and shot it down in one go, wincing as the liquid burnt his throat, he wasn’t a whisky man but right now only something as strong and sweet as this was going to do.  He put the glass down and rested his hands on his desk.  Jake’s mind whirred on, even if Victoria hadn’t been in on the scam to steal his file then Mark turning up saying he was Victoria’s fiancé had really thrown him.  He only had Victoria’s word that Mark had cheated on her and she had called the wedding off!  Maybe none of that was true and she had been lying to him all along to secure his account and business.  Jake shook his head, would Victoria really do that?  Would she really stoop so low as to sleep with Jake and make him fall in love with her just to get his business?  And if that was the truth then would she have told him or let him find it out for himself once he had signed on the dotted line with Churchill, Turnbull & French?

Jake pushed away from his desk and looked at the file like it contained everything he despised.  Picking it up he opened his top drawer and pushed it inside, he had too much going on inside his head and his body to look at it right now.  All Jake wanted to do was head down to the gym in his apartment building and put himself through a gruelling workout trying to relieve the frustration and pain he felt, until he was so tired he could do no more than fall into a fit-full sleep.

Jake woke up and looked at his clock.  He was usually in the office by now but he hardly slept last night, tossing and turning, his mind full of pictures of Victoria with Mark as he went to stroke her hair, or Victoria walking out of Mark’s hotel room looking flushed. 

Jake swung his legs out of bed and headed for the shower.  He only had a few meetings today and if Andrea called ahead he would be able to do them outside of his office.  He didn’t want to set foot into his building today if he could help it, right now he couldn’t face seeing Victoria again - the sound of her voice telling him they were a mistake and they were finished rang through his ears and stung his heart.  The woman he saw yesterday standing in his office all apologetic but professional wasn’t the Victoria he knew, there was nothing soft and caring about that woman.  The Victoria he saw yesterday was firm and hard, and all about business and nothing else.  Firm and hard, and stunningly beautiful! No, he wasn’t setting foot in his office today, and as far as Victoria was concerned he didn’t think she would care either way.

After a day of flitting between meetings in different offices around Miami and lunch in a Bayside restaurant, Jake finished off with yet another gruelling workout at the gym before he headed upstairs to his apartment.  He had been tempted to stop by his office just so he could see Victoria, but each time he reminded himself there was no point - she wasn’t interested in him the way he wanted her to be, so he kept on going to his next meeting.

Fresh from his post work-out shower Jake walked back into his living room and looked at the file Andrea had couriered across at his request now sitting on his large coffee table.  Bruno had handed it to him personally yesterday lunchtime, but he had managed to find every possible excuse not to look inside it.  He knew when he opened the file he was going to have to think about Victoria and he had desperately been trying to keep his mind off her all day, as impossible as that had been.  Playing for more time Jake walked into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of ice cold juice and then went back to the living room.  He sighed and sat down on the sofa to see what was in the file.